Blog: LCBH News

Most people think of summer as a time for picnics, pools, and popsicles. For some of our dedicated volunteers, however, summertime meant pro bono time!

LCBH paired up with two different law firms over the summer to create pro bono opportunities for summer associate law students. Summer associates from Brinks Gilson & Lione and Jones Day worked with senior associates and partners within their firms to handle cases screened and supervised by an LCBH staff attorney. Each summer associate was able to work directly with clients to help resolve difficult housing situations through negotiation, motion writing, and their first court appearances.

We’d like to share one story that had a particularly wonderful outcome. A team of pro bono attorneys from Brinks Gilson & Lione represented June and her five children in an eviction court case. June and her family had lived in their apartment building, subsidized by the Chicago Housing Authority, for several years. The family had never had any serious problems with management, and June liked the apartment’s proximity to her children’s school. However, in the early summer everything changed when June received an eviction notice from her landlord. The notice accused June of (1) allowing a friend to stay overnight in the apartment for three days, (2) propping open the back door of the building, and (3) damaging the gate to the building.

Other jurisdictions have been e-filing for years, and it has finally come to the Cook County Civil Division! E-Filing allows attorneys and pro se litigants to file documents with the Circuit Court online instead of having to go in-person to the clerk’s office. Among the many advantages of e-filing, users can file documents any time of the day, even during weekends and holidays. Users can also schedule motions through the e-filing service and pay court fees by credit card.

E-filing’s major disadvantage is that users are charged a vendor fee for each transaction, including filings for which the clerk does not collect a fee. These charges are prohibitive for most legal aid agencies, including LCBH, to fully utilize this service.

E-filing, if it ever becomes financially viable for legal aid agencies or provides fee waivers for low-income litigants, has the potential to substantially increase capacity for organizations with limited support staff. Instead of sending attorneys and paralegals to wait in line for 30-45 minutes every day, filing can be done with the click of a mouse, saving time and increasing efficiency.

Governor Pat Quinn recently signed two important pieces of legislation into law. Both bills have the potential to dramatically improve outcomes for LCBH clients.

The Access to Justice Act was signed Thursday, August 15 and the Protecting Tenants in Foreclosure bill was signed Wednesday, August 21.

Access to Justice Act

On Thursday, August 15, Governor Quinn signed the Access to Justice Act which will increase access to justice for all Illinoisans. The new law establishes two pilot projects: one creating a statewide military personnel and veterans’ legal assistance hotline and a program to provide court-based legal assistance within a circuit court in each of the five Appellate Court districts in the state.

“On behalf of the Illinois Supreme Court, I thank Governor Quinn and the General Assembly for enacting our proposal into law,” said Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride, who attended the signing ceremony. “This law will make the Illinois court system more accessible to veterans and active duty service members and will help citizens in all walks of life. Additionally, it provides funding for self-help centers in law libraries, creates a task force to review the statutory fees imposed on litigation and will establish a pilot project to test how best to provide legal representation in certain civil cases to those who can’t afford an attorney.”